Greene County News
YELLOW SPRINGS — During the month of September, The Village Artisans Gallery in Yellow Springs will present the artwork of two new members of the cooperative.
Printmaker Kathryn Pitstick of Yellow Springs, and ceramist Nicki Strouss, of Columbus, will show their current pieces in the Village Artisans’ Lobby Gallery. The show runs Sept. 1 – 30, with an artist reception 6-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16.
Kathryn Pitstick attended the Design, Art and Architecture Program at the University of Cincinnati and earned a bachelor of fine arts from Wright State University. She is a new member of Village Artisan Cooperative in Yellow Spring and is very active with the Dayton Print Coop.
She has exhibited her work extensively and has received a number of awards. Pitstick feels her work is inspired from nature.
“Because of the emotion and energy I receive from my surroundings,” she said. “I stand in awe of the rhythm interaction and vastness in plein-air environment. I search for a sense of organization of chaos in the complexity of my subject. My body of work encompasses printmaking, painting and photography. Delicate details, abstraction and sometimes ambiguity are found in my compositions.”
Nicki Strouss has a bachelor of fine arts from the Columbus College of Art and Design. She has taught ceramics, received awards and exhibited her work throughout Ohio. She is a new member of Village Artisans Cooperative in Yellow Springs and is currently very active with John Bryan Community Pottery.
Strouss enjoys creating both functional and sculptural work. Her vessels reference figures and possibility. Reference to function is evident because many of the forms are utilitarian.
“The repetition of form is my way of understanding each shape or idea in a new medium or combination,” she said.
She uses high-fire clay, wool, paper, wax and any number of other household implements to create a rich surface that is best experienced when held in the hand. Some forms appear fragile, as if cracking eggs, and others look as strong as weathered stones. As containers for thoughts or food Strouss hopes her objects, “find a happy place to enliven peoples’ homes,” she said.
The Village Artisans Gallery is a multi-media cooperative art gallery located at 100 Corry Street in Yellow Springs. Summer gallery hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday – Thursday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, stop into the gallery, call 937-767-1209, email [email protected],or visit www.villageartisans.blogspot.com.
